GEN-MKT-18-7897-A
Aug 17, 2015 | Blogs, Food / Beverage | 0 comments
If you suffer from peanut allergies, you may want to think twice before diving into a bowl of something spicy. The reason being, some shipments of North American and European products containing ground cumin, cumin powder, cayenne pepper, paprika, and pilli-pilli powder have been found to contain undeclared peanut and almond proteins. Think dinner kits, supermarket curries, veggie and black bean burgers, and salsa.
Here is how it all started: In 2014, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) discovered undeclared peanut and almond protein in products containing cumin. Then, in December 2014, North American cumin samples turned up containing peanut protein. In February 2015, the FDA issued a statement declaring that people with highly sensitive peanut allergies should avoid these foods. Products containing known contaminants were then recalled in rapid succession. In all, 20 alerts were issued by the FDA and products were recalled throughout Europe. Some experts say the trace amounts of protein are the results of poor harvest and crop failure, with nuts used as a substitute. The American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) has taken a more conservative approach pointing out that spices such as cumin are grown alongside peanuts resulting in low-level cross-contact.
You can be certain labs are receiving an influx of spices for which to test. However, can we trust the results? To date, testing has not been fool-proof. Traditionally enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)-based methods are used for food allergen testing. However, ELISA is plagued by false positive and false negative outcomes.
What is the Solution?
Here at SCIEX, we propose a multi-allergen screening method to do the job. This LC-MS/MS application delivers:
Together, we can help keep allergens out of spices for good. To read the full application note click here.
The Echo® MS+ system is a novel platform for Acoustic Ejection Mass Spectrometry (AEMS) and combines the speed of acoustic sampling with the selectivity of mass spectrometry. This platform has been designed for high throughput analysis of small and large molecules. The technology combines Acoustic Droplet Ejection (ADE), an Open Port Interface (OPI) and could be coupled with the SCIEX Triple Quad 6500+ system or the ZenoTOF 7600 system.
The Echo® MS+ system comprises of an open-port interface (OPI) and acoustic droplet ejection (ADE) module which could be coupled with a mass spectrometer. The mass spectrometer could either be a SCIEX Triple Quad 6500+ system or the ZenoTOF 7600 system. This non-liquid chromatography based; high-throughput screening platform enables rapid analysis of compounds at speeds of up to 1 sample/second.
The ability to consistently achieve reproducible results on many complex samples across multiple days is critical to a routine clinical laboratory. Laboratories relying on analytical instrumentation require stability and robustness to perform a variety of screening and confirmatory assays with confidence. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has become the preferred analytical method in the clinical laboratory to reliably perform clinical testing as it provides best-in-class performance and reliability for the most challenging assays. LC-MS/MS offers the required levels of sensitivity and specificity for the detection and quantitation of molecules from complex biological samples, helping laboratories deliver highly accurate data for a variety of clinically relevant analytes across a wide range of assays.
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